Kodiak launch site

so I have this small question. Why is this Kodiak launch site located in Alaska almost near the north Pole.Why not near the equator, to give the vehicles the extra swing to escape gravity(to reduce fuel costs etc. specially for a commercial enterprise).or is just that Alaska with their aerospace company just wanted a launch pad, near home.

probably best located for polar orbits.
if using this orbit then no need to be on the equator.

I have not looked at the location but i suspect the flight path is over water and will not effect any population.

It depends on where they want the spacecraft to orbit. From Kodiak, AK, a rocket can be launched pretty much straight south. This would put it into a nice polar orbit. If they time it right, the proper polar orbit could be set up so that a satellite would always be exposed to sunlight for its solar panels so it would always be able to run on solar power.

reply to post by davidchin


thanks that is a very logical answer!.so these polar orbit satellites are used to monitor the polar ice caps?Or is it also useful to charge the solar panels efficiently there and then move further south for other monitoring activities

KLC is the nation’s only high latitude full service spaceport. It features all indoor, all weather, processing and was designed specifically to provide optimal support for space launches to polar orbit, including circular and highly elliptical Molniya and Tundra orbits. KLC offers unrestricted down range launch azimuths ranging from 110° to 220°, and is the only U.S. facility that can launch high inclination (63.4°) missions without land over-flight and the requirement to resort to energy consuming dog leg flight segments.

To be fair, Kodiak Island is on the same latitude as southern Scotland.

You have it all wrong. I lived and grew up in Kodiak. I have been to the launch site, done a lot of mountain biking out in Pasagshack, hiking and wandering around the old WWII bunkers out there and in town. Kodiak has a lot of war history by the way. After going to college I moved back to Kodiak in 2006 and worked as an Auto Tech. The shop I worked at worked on GSA vehicles and I ended up meeting a lot of people that worked there that were from New Mexico. From what I have read and gathered, the White Sands Facility is basically a target launch facility. They launch rockets as targets for testing military weapons. There was a successful test just a few years ago, I forget exactly when. I have seen them Launch from there Kodiak is a small town so when stuff like that happens everyone stops what they are doing to watch. I have heard several rumors of an underground Submarine base in Kodiak, maybe in another thread, as well as other suspicious activities, oh yeah there's a Navy SEAL training facility there too and the largest Coast Guard base in N. America.

reply to post by coldfiremx


I believe it is both a missile launch site (military) and a spaceport for polar orbital satellites.I happen to read about and discover the site on the nasa app.

100% success launch status, 14 out of 14 since 1991. Not much happening there.

reply to post by Foppezao


Using a polar orbit will allow the sat to fly over every square inch of the planet at some point each week.

An equatorial orbit cannot reach the far north or far south ever.

Believe it or not, most of the more recent NASA space probes enter a polar orbit to the planet or moon they are targeting, there is a reason for such.

Wow. I REALLY need to get to the eye doctor for new glasses. I SWEAR the thread topic read:

"Kodak launch site", and for a minute I was like: WTF? I though Kodak had gone down the drain since digital media has taken over chemical film industry.......and wait......

"Kodiak".........DOH!

I wasn't aware that there was a launch site up there, so thanks for showing me something! (Including needing new glasses!), so you get a star from me.